INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – With just five regular season matches left, the Carson-Newman Eagles are ranked ninth in the Southeast Region as announced by the NCAA Wednesday afternoon.

The top eight teams make the NCAA Division II Playoffs with an automatic qualifier coming from the South Atlantic Conference, the Peachbelt Conference and Conference Carolinas.

Carson-Newman currently ranks second in the SAC with a 15-2 mark in league play, three games higher than Lenoir-Rhyne, who was ranked third, and four games better than Anderson (S.C.), who was slotted sixth. The Eagles are 2-1 against the Bears and Trojans this year with both wins coming on the road. Carson-Newman plays at home against Anderson on November 7.

The Eagles have the third-highest winning percentage in Southeast region games, but the voters put Carson-Newman outside of the top eight.

Armstrong State, No. 16 in the AVCA top 25 poll, landed the top spot while fellow SAC program Wingate was second. The Bulldogs and Eagles will clash this Saturday at 2:00 p.m. in North Carolina.

The Bears coming off of a five-set win over Carson-Newman come in third while GRU Augusta who swept the Eagles on September 13 placed fourth.

USC-Aiken, Anderson, Montevallo and Lander were the teams ranked ahead of Carson-Newman to round out the playoff picture at this point. Behind the Eagles is Erskine.

Carson-Newman travels to Coker and Wingate this weekend prior to ending the year with three home contests.

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